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Radiation from Japan rained on Berkeley, California, during
recent storms at levels that exceeded drinking water standards by
181 times. A rooftop water monitoring program managed by
the University of California at Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear
Engineering detected substantial spikes in rain-borne iodine-131
during those torrential downpours. The levels exceeded
federal drinking water thresholds, known as Maximum Contaminant
Levels -- or MCLs -- by as much as 181 times or 18,100%.
Iodine-131 is one of the most cancer-causing toxic radioactive
isotopes spewed when nuclear power plants are in meltdown.
It is being ingested by cows, which have begun passing it through
into their milk and radioactivity has been detected. [Multiple
Sources]

Specific Scientific Data

The iodine-131 level in the rainwater sample taken on the roof of
Etcheverry Hall on the campus of UC Berkeley on March 23rd, 2011,
from 9:06-18:00hrs Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) states
radioactivity levels at 20.1 Becquerels per Litre (Bq/L) = 543
PicoCuries per Litre (pCi/L). The federal maximum level of
iodine-131 allowed in drinking water is 3 pCi/L or 0.111
Becquerels per Litre. The sample exceeded the federal
guidelines for drinking water by 181 times. The UC Berkeley
researchers also discovered trace levels of iodine-131 and other
radioactive isotopes, believed to have originated in Fukushima,
in commercially available milk and in a local stream within
California. [UC Berkeley]

No Official Data Yet

Three weeks after the Fukushima nuclear power plant began spewing
radiation into the world’s air, the US government has still not
published any official data on nuclear fallout from the Fukushima
meltdown. The amount of iodine-131 or other radioactive
elements that have fallen as precipitation or made their way into
milk supplies or drinking water has not yet been fully
revealed. Scientists say an absence of federal data on the
issue is hampering efforts to develop strategies for preventing
radioactive isotopes from contaminating the nation's food and
water. [The Bay Citizen, San Francisco]

Rising Risks

Fukushima radiation is blanketing most of the United States and
Canada according to the data and visuals published regularly by
the The Norwegian Institute of Air Research. The risks of
that radiation falling with rain, have been downplayed by US
government officials and others, who say its impacts are so
fleeting and minor so as to be negligible. Nonetheless,
radiation falling with rain can cover grass that is eaten by cows
and other animals. It can also fall on food crops or contaminate
reservoirs that are used for irrigation or drinking water.
[Norwegian Institute of Air Research or NILU]

Food and Water Watch

Food and Water Watch -- the nonprofit Non-Governmental
Organisation (NGO) based in Washington, DC -- sent a letter to
President Barack Obama and members of his cabinet and Congress a
few days ago urging the US federal government to improve its
monitoring of radiation in agricultural land and food in the wake
of the Japanese tragedy. The letter from "Food and Water
Watch" states: “The three agencies that monitor almost all
of the food Americans eat … have insisted that the US food supply
is safe . . . the agencies, however, have done very little to
detail specific ways in which they are responding to the threat
of radiation in food.”

EPA and FDA

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states in its
April 3rd advisory, "As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has
said, we do not expect to see radiation at harmful levels
reaching the US from damaged Japanese nuclear power
plants." The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which
regulates food safety, has referred questions about potential
milk contamination to the EPA, which is taking the lead on
testing dairy products for radiation. Early last week, the
EPA said it expected to release results of tests for
radioactivity in rain and snow within a day or so. Just before
the weekend, three days after making that pledge, EPA officials
repeated the same statement and said the data would likely be
released over the weekend or early this week. So far that
data set has not been released. [EPA]

Conclusion

Potentially cancer-causing radiation from Fukushima has been
encircling the world, traveling quickly on jet streams high in
the atmosphere and falling with precipitation like rain and
snow. It is already being detected in air, water and milk
in some parts of the United States by local and state
agencies. For example, San Francisco rain water radiation
levels exceeded federal drinking water thresholds by as much as
181 times recently. A radioactive isotope, such as
iodine-131, is supposed to have a half-life of eight days. This
is inferred to mean that it breaks down quickly, and it quickly
dissipates in the environment. However, the 8 day half-life
can be a misnomer because radioactive iodine can really persist
in the environment for many months and has a 100 day biological
half-life once inside the human body.